The SitePoint Forums have moved.

You can now find them here.
This forum is now closed to new posts, but you can browse existing content.
You can find out more information about the move and how to open a new account (if necessary) here.
If you get stuck you can get support by emailing forums@sitepoint.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

AI to PSD

I found the post on how to do this, unfortunately the video link given is no longer available.

I am trying to export an .ai file into a .psd in CS4. I do file > export > make sure it's .psd and then click all the bottom layers like "write layers" etc. Also make sure it's RGB to RGB but I am still only getting one flat layer when I open in PS. What am I doing wrong? Any help please?

Found this answer on the net after searching for ages ... if anyone knows an easier way to do this other than take layers out of 23498234987234 groups, pls post here

Illustrator CS3 and CS4 both have an excellent feature that allows you to export artwork from a .AI to a .PSD, retaining the individual layers. This is great when developing a website. Personally, I opt to wireframe and then mock up in Illustrator, but when it comes time to create the XHTML template, I like to go to Photoshop because traditionally exporting directly from Illustrator has been less precise.

To export to Photoshop, you simply select File > Export, then choose PSD as the file type (and in Illustrator CS4 you can now choose to export one or all artboards while you’re at it). You’re presented with a dialog box with a load of options, but the key thing here is to choose “write layers”.

If all is well, the net result is a layered PSD file containing editable text and nested groups of objects matching your groups in Illustrator. As a side note, drop shadows are rendered out as separate items so aren’t live once you’ve moved to Photoshop.

THE BUG
The bug arises when you try to export artwork that has a layer with nested grouped objects.

If you have a group within a group, 4 levels deep – ie. Group > Group > Group > Group and on the lowest level (furthest in) you apply a drop shadow, Illustrator’s export engine fails and you’ll get an innocuous error message.

This little box hides the fact that when you open Photoshop, all layers beneath and including the nested group layer will be flattened onto one layer. This happens in both CS3 and CS4. It may be that the bug occurs with other live effects; I haven’t done an exhaustive test beyond setting up a couple of documents as you see above to test the theory.

THE SOLUTION
Understanding what causes the problem should mean you’ve already figured out the solution. Pretty much it’s as straight forward as ungrouping objects. Make sure you have nested groupings to a maximum of 3 levels deep if you want to apply drop shadow to nested grouped items. I tend to stick almost all my content in one layer when developing a design, and then split it out into layers ahead of the export – which is probably why I’ve come across this issue. You can save yourself the headache by creating layers as you go, and thus reducing the need to group objects together in the first place.